In article >,
Sqwertz > wrote:

> Dan Abel wrote:
>
> > USAGE The term Oriental, denoting a person from the Far East, is
> > regarded as offensive by many Asians, esp. Asian Americans. It has many
> > associations with European imperialism in Asia. Therefore, it has an
> > out-of-date feel and tends to be associated with a rather offensive
> > stereotype of the people and their customs as inscrutable and exotic.
> > Asian and more specific terms such as East Asian, Chinese, and Japanese
> > are preferred.
>
> Then why do they name their businesses (in Austin):
>
> New Oriental Market
> K&S Oriental Food Market
> Oriental Grocery and Bakery
> My Thanh Oriental Market
> Academy of Oriental Medicine
> Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
> Orietental Express
>
> And my Favorite:
>
> Midnight Cowboy Oriental Massage and Lingerie Modeling
>
> All these places are owned and staffed by Orientals; Asian Americans in
> almost all cases) If they're supposed to consider it offensive, then
> maybe they missed the memo.

Or, as is the case for many derogatory words used for race, they used to
be perfectly acceptable, and the businesses were named back then. It's
not easy to change the name of a business, people tend to assume it's a
new business.

Also, and maybe even more importantly, the part of the definition you
left in above refers to "a person from the Far East", a noun. The part
you cut says the noun is dated and may be offensive, but the adjective
is merely dated.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA